


A Shocking Return

by Amorentia_Quibble



Series: Hamilton Story Series [4]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: ...yet, ;), Credit to baby_in_a_trenchcoat_1411 for the idea, No shipping, Other, You're Implied to be female, and in turn to JolleyOleJorge on Wattpad as they got the idea from them, hopefully lots of fluff and repairing where things were last left off, idk I just wanted to write a sassy character dealing with the founding fathers and co, it just makes everything 100 times easier, swearing tw, uhhhh tags...
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-20
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2018-12-31 19:12:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12139200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amorentia_Quibble/pseuds/Amorentia_Quibble
Summary: When a book is literally thrown at your head, with a mysterious author, you couldn't help at least taking it with you back home to take a peek. Wasn't like you were gonna chase down the douche that chucked it at you to give it back.But you quickly started wishing that you did.





	1. For a 200 year old, you severely lack maturity, sir.

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [How the World Works](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11631111) by [Baby_in_a_trenchcoat_1411](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baby_in_a_trenchcoat_1411/pseuds/Baby_in_a_trenchcoat_1411). 



> Hoo boy it's Hamilton! Dunno if this'll be a continuing thing, since I can't seem to keep anything I write continuing, but enjoy this while it lasts! There aren't any ships in here, unless i change things up later, but if you guys would like to see certain characters and yourself be closer, comment below!

The day was rather gloomy as you made your way from work to your home in the nearby complex, swerving expertly through the slow walkers who dawdled to catch a glimpse at the fashionable clothing in shop windows, or the edible delights on display just inside. You, however, just wanted to get home. The day had been long and arduous, to say the least. Packing and replacing stock, dealing with customers, and a lot of terrible ones at that, today. Just being on your feet for hours on end was usually enough to get you exhausted, but all the running, lifting and talking you had been doing had you dead on your feet, only conscious enough to see what was in front of you, and to know the way you were headed. The weather wasn’t helping, either, the darkness that the grey clouds caused almost begging you to have a nap right then and there.

 

You most certainly were not in the mood for any bullshit, so when someone drove past and literally smacked you in the face with something HEAVY, you were not having it.

 

“Hey, watch it!” You shouted at the car as it sped away from the curb, turning into a street and quickly disappearing. You hadn’t caught the model or number plate, and you certainly weren’t gonna chase after it to return…

 

Was this a textbook?

 

The cover was quite ornate, gold lettering expertly calligraphed to say “Alexander Hamilton: The $10 Founding Father”. Whilst you were sure, by how this looked, it wasn’t just a history book, what else could it be if it was about Alexander Hamilton, the dude you sort of forget about after hearing about him in class? 

The most curious thing about the book was the author, the only visible sign of a name being on the front, ‘Li an nda’ being barely visible, as if someone had deliberately tried to scratch off the gold paint.

 

Confused, and rubbing your face from where the book had slammed into you, you quickly decided to take it home. You weren’t about to try chase up some guy who threw a book in your face, and the oddities of the book had you intrigued enough to want to have a flick through, if for the nostalgia of those old high school classes.

 

You were only a few blocks away from the complex, and it didn’t take you long to head over to the gate, punching in the almost invisible numbers to let you in and walk over to your house. A small one, at that, but affordable, and nearby work and school, thank god.

 

Once inside, you dropped everything else you were carrying except the book, walking over to the kitchen and grabbing a quick snack, and an icepack for your face, feeling a bruise begin to blossom on your cheek. You reckoned you had enough energy in you to do a bit of light reading, then you’d fall asleep. That, or you’d possibly be lulled to sleep by how boring it is. You weren’t sure yet.

 

You plopped yourself down on your couch, trying to get yourself comfy as you pulled a knitted blanket over you, nibbling on your snack with the ice pack balanced on your face.

 

“Alright, Liannda, show me what you got.” You joked, before opening the book. The moment the front cover was opened, a bright light shone into your eyes, momentarily blinding you. The light lasted only a second, if that, but it certainly disarmed you enough to give you a fright. The hell could that have been? Was this some weird prank? Or maybe you’d been hit in the head harder than you thought, and you were suffering some sort of concussive delirium?

 

A foreign voice was enough to jolt you out of your momentary stupor, “Where am I?” You quickly looked toward the source of the voice, trying to get your eyes to refocus. You weren’t able to begin describing your surprise when a man, wearing an uppity colonial costume, was standing before you.

 

“W-What the-” You stuttered out, trying to back into the couch as he turned, revealing his face. The man’s skin was dark, face lined from stress. He was bald, and didn’t look impressed by his disposition, if a little shocked.

 

“Who are you?” He questioned, eyes scanning over you as he took a step back. 

 

“I could ask you the same question! The hell are you doing in my house!?” You shouted after a moment of trying to sort out your mind, working at a hundred miles per hour. Who was this dude? Why was he wearing-

 

Oh.

 

Oh no.

 

”No, please tell me this was the prank thing…” You started mumbling, cutting off any response from the man stood in the middle of the living room. You were flicking rapidly through the pages, but for some reason every one was blank.

 

Real helpful.

 

Seeming to note your frazzledness, the man took a few steps closer, before you snapped back up to look at him, scanning over his features once more, “What’s your name?” You questioned quickly, moving to stand from the couch so you were at least on level ground with this guy.

 

“Aaron Burr. And you?” You were too shocked to respond.

 

“Fuck off.”

 

“Excuse me?” He asked suddenly, seeming to become more and more confused. He was becoming more aware of his surroundings now, seeing your clothing, the TV, the furniture, even the cars parked in the small street outside, “Wait… Where am I?”

 

“I think it’s a question of when more than where, Sir.” You stuttered, looking around for any sign of… anything that could ground you to reality at this point. Aaron Burr. You didn’t know a whole lot about the man, but you were pretty sure he killed a dude or something, for one.

 

Burr seemed, understandably, confused by your statement, taking a step toward me, “Then when am I?” he asked, and I turned to look at him.

 

“Do you actually want you to know? Because I don’t really want a dude to collapse from a heart attack on my carpet... Especially looking like that.” You asked, gesturing up and down at his clothing, and despite your wording, you were serious. How would you explain that to an ambulance?

 

“Yes, I want to know! When am I?” He asked, somewhat more forcefully.

 

You took a deep breath and turned away for a moment, voice barely above a whisper when you uttered, “2017.”

 

The silence was palpable.

 

“You mean to tell me I’m a good 200 years in the future?” He asked, almost sounding like he thought this was a joke. You felt a bit sorry for the man, but you were worried that the situation might escalate if you didn’t work out what was going on.

 

“Judging on the fact that you’re somehow in my house… yes, I suppose that’s what I’m saying. Take it with a grain of salt, I’m no expert on time travelling founding fathers, my friend.” You were trying to stay calm, whilst also looking for you laptop. Aaron Burr… Who did this guy kill? You know he… he shot someone? You were trying to remember if it was significant and if it was a ‘whoops old guns are shitty and I accidentally shot you’ killed, a ‘whoops it’s wartime‘ killed or just straight up psychopathic murderer sort of killed.

 

But… so far the dude had been pretty civil toward you. He looked to be just trying to grasp the situation, almost trying to work something more personal out, but you decided that you needed to find your laptop and work this out before he tried to go out into the streets in all his 1700’s glory.

 

“Mr. Burr, sir?” You called quickly, glancing around, “I just need to grab... something,” You said, not wanting to have to explain what a laptop was, “please just - just don’t move or walk away because I don’t wanna have to go hunting the streets for you, yeah?” You said. He seemed to get the gist, if he looked a bit suspicious, but nodded all the same, looking around the lounge room and the kitchen as you left.

 

The moment you were out of earshot you were freaking out.

 

“What the  _ actual fuck _ is going on  **_holy shit._ ** ” You uttered, running a hand through your hair feverishly as you jogged to your room, searching for your laptop. Seeing your bed there made you long for the rest you’d hoped for just minutes ago, but thoughts of being able to rest were now long gone. You had to work this mystery out.

 

You found your laptop tucked under your bed, connected to the charger (thank god). Quickly opening it, you typed ‘Aaron Burr’ into the search bar. After a moment a few scholarly looking articles popped up, you clicking the first and scanning through it.

 

“Ok… So he killed Alexander Hamilton?!” You uttered after a few moments of reading. Yeah, not as accidental sounding as you’d hoped. But with that you remembered something about it being a duel, or something along those lines so… Maybe it still had been accidental.

 

Either way, you felt inclined to give one of the Founding Fathers a bit of the benefit of the doubt.

 

Just as you set your laptop aside, you heard a large crash in the room next to you, eliciting a small scream from you as you jolted back, almost falling off your bed. The moment you caught yourself, you were rushing into the next room, stumbling over yourself as you slammed the door open, hearing footsteps behind you. You were too distracted by seeing two men tangled up in your bathtub to look behind you and check that it was Burr.

 

“What the actual hell is my life anymore.” 

 

The pair quickly ceased their attempts at escaping each other’s grasp to glance back at you, both looking quite shocked, perhaps at your words, or just at your presence. The pair were both quite dark in complexion, though the one with shorter hair was darker than the man with rather poofy hair. You noticed the latter also had a small walking staff of some sort, whatever that was called, which he’d nearly poked both his and the other man’s eyes out with.

 

Glancing back to see Burr, he almost looked a little happy. You assumed these were some friends of his.

 

“Thomas, James!” He said, voice the most jovial you’d heard it yet as he smiled, taking a step past you into the bathroom, seeming to want to help the pair.

 

“Thomas and… James… Oh my god don’t tell me you mean Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.” You quickly said, taking a step back, “Like the 3rd and 4th Presidents of America Jefferson and Madison. You don’t mean- You know what, of course you do!” By now you were almost laughing, because  _ of course the were, your life’s suddenly become a shitshow, what do you expect?! _

 

“Uh, that we are.” The tallest said with a slight chuckle at your expense, as he finally untangled himself from his friend, standing at his full, rather intimidating height, “Thomas Jefferson.” he grinned, somewhat slyly, bowing before you. He took your hand in his, lifting it to his mouth and kissing your knuckles gently. You found yourself a little flustered from his actions, more out of surprise than anything. Maddison greeted you in a similar way, though excused himself to cough harshly into a napkin he pulled out of his breast pocket before he could perform the same flirtatious action as Jefferson. 

 

You had to admit still being in shock, but to hell with it, if you’re meeting these guys you had to make a somewhat decent first impression.

 

“Can you guys uh… not be in my bathroom, please?” You said with a slight chuckle, gesturing for them to follow you back out to the lounge room. They quickly did, and you could hear Burr explaining the situation, noticing Madison in particular go pale, and Jefferson lose a bit of the spring in his step when you glanced back.

 

You sat them down the moment the trio were out there, head in your hands as you tried to process everything as calmly as you could, despite feeling like the walls were closing in around you. Three founding fathers were IN YOUR HOUSE. What were you meant to do with them?! You couldn’t just chuck them out, they had no clue what was going on… But you couldn’t exactly just let them stay, they’re three dudes you’ve never met no matter how many times you’ve read about what they did in textbooks.

 

“Uh, are you alright there, miss?” One of the voices asked, you turning to see Madison, and the other two, looking in concern.

 

You hesitated before nodding, “Yup, I’m all good, just… processing. Time travel isn’t a normal thing… at all.” You said, wanting to clarify that, seeing as this was 200 years in the future. They probably had a few expectations.

 

The three nodded, watching you as you sat in the middle of the carpet, trying to figure things out. The men looked between each other, confused but, for people who had found themselves 200 years in the future, they were handling it well.

 

“How are you guys dealing with this as well as you are?” You suddenly questioned, looking between everyone, “I’m here freaking out but you guys seem quite calm, considering.” They glanced at each other before Aaron spoke.

 

“”Well, we all noticed that just before finding ourselves here, we had died.” Oh.

 

Well that’s morbid.

 

“So… So, what, this is like a reincarnation thing? I thought you guys grew old before dying, you all look at least relatively young.” You mused, before shrugging it off, “but talking about the semantics of time travel isn’t gonna solve this! We need to find a way to get you back home!” 

 

“But that’s the thing, if we’re dead, I don’t think there’s anything we can do to go back.” Jefferson replied, standing from the couch to pace, “It’s like you said, reincarnation. So we might just be stuck here-”  _ Crash. _

 

You sighed, sure that you were about to meet another founding father, “Fucking hell, I’m not gonna catch a break, am I?” You sighed, leaving the room to find the source of the crash, when the cupboard door was slammed open, three men falling through and onto the floor in front of you, almost sweeping you up along with them.

 

“Where are we?!” One cried, voice sounding strained thanks to being buried under the two, larger men. The boy had brown, curly hair pulled back into a ponytail, a freckled face looking up to gasp for air. 

 

The three men already in the lounge room rounded the corner, and you could hear a quiet groan from behind you, “I’m surprised Hamilton didn’t appear with you three.” Burr said, sounding somewhat unimpressed. Three faces quickly glanced up, landing first on Burr and the other two men, then on you and the rest of your house.

 

You were beginning to run out of patience with this, your fatigue starting to get the best of you, as you walked up to the three and helped them up, “Sorry to be blunt, but you’re 200 years in the future.” You quickly provided your name, also as you tugged up the last, youngest looking man, the one who had spoken first, “So, your names are?” 

 

The three still looked like they were processing, but seeing the three behind me perfectly fine seemed to set them at ease, “I’m John Laurens, miss. Did you say 200 years?” He asked, shaking my hand as he spoke. He still looked totally and utterly confused, but certainly not freaking out.

 

“‘Fraid so, John.” I nodded. He looked a bit winded from the idea of such a thing, before stepping away to allow his two friends to introduce themselves. Hercules Mulligan, a dark man with short hair and a bandana tied around his head, tall and intimidating, but he seemed very sweet. He shook your hand similarly, sending you a charming smile.

 

The last was Lafayette, or at least, he allowed you to call him such after catching nothing else in his long name. He had a strong french accent, with a mess of hair pulled into a ponytail. He bowed before you and gently kissed your knuckles in a similar fashion to Jefferson, once again leaving you a little surprised. At least these guys were polite, if they weren’t you’d surely be having a harder time with them, that much you knew.

 

The six men in the house were now split from one side of the room to another, staring each other down with you at the centre of it. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife, and even though a few of the looks were laced with hostility, most of them were evaluative. Even so, you were tired and in no mood to sort out a fist fight.

 

“Alright, so it looks like not everyone here gets along fantastically. Just… no fighting, and no breaking my stuff, yeah? Debate and be politicians all you like, but so much as raise a fist and I’ll throw you all out into the streets. Capiche?” You said, glaring the two sides down. They didn’t seem too intimidated by you or your words, but considering you were the only thing keeping them safe from the outside world, they agreed.

 

“Great. Now uh… You guys are going to want to sleep, aren’t you?” You sighed. Your work was going to be cut out for you today, wasn’t it? You hummed in thought as you walked out to the hallway, opening cupboards to try and find old camping gear and inflatable mattresses. You only had a couple though…

 

Even though you knew there weren’t enough, you dragged them out with you back into the lounge room, the men watching on as you did so.

 

“Did you need a hand with those?” Laurens asked, standing to come over and help. You quickly waved him off, thanking him but assuring you were ok.

 

“I just need to work out where to get more mattresses for you guys, two of these plus a couch isn’t gonna do much for a group of six guys.” You sighed, patting around in your pockets for your phone. Not there. Back pockets? Nope.

 

You stood up to search for it whilst waiting for the mattress to inflate, not even realising that they men were watching in awe as if witnessing some sort of voodoo magic.

 

You finally found your phone near the doorway, picking it up just before you heard another crash down the hall. You sighed, head in your hands for a moment before heading down there, seeing the men already here stand up to follow you. You turned the corner and walked toward your office, seeing two men standing before you, looking a little dazed, but there, at least.

 

“Alexander?” Someone behind you said, drawing the attention of the men. One had rather long hair, pulled back, but only just. His face looked lined from years of stress, and his eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. The man beside him was much taller, bald, but had an air of confidence about him. The two men scanned over you and who you could only assume were their friends before walking over to greet them, you moving out of their way as they hugged and shook hands. Some were closer than others, you noticed, and some held hostilities, but for politicians they were acting quite civil.

 

The two unintroduced men then turned to you, the shortest with his hand outstretched, “Alexander Hamilton, Miss.” He introduced. By now you almost weren’t shocked. You sort of expected him to show up at this point, considering his name was on the front of the book. You took his hand, shaking it firmly, before turning to the other man.

 

“George Washington.” Ok, nothing could prepare you for that one. You felt your knees go weak for a moment, but regained composure and shook his hand.  _ Shook his hand. _ You were shaking hands with the first president of the United States. 

 

“So should I be expecting more random men to show up or does it seem that the gang’s all together, now?” You asked, looking between the men. They glanced at one another, nodding silently. You sighed, at least relieved that you weren’t about to have any more unexpected visitors. After a quick headcount, you worked out there were eight men standing before you.

 

Yeah, you needed a bunch more mattresses.

 

Pulling your phone out of the pocket you’d placed it in previously, you opened it, scrolling through your contacts for someone reliable… and someone who’d probably have mattresses.

 

“Woah, what’s that?” Jefferson voiced, you looking up to see everyone watching in confusion.

 

Oh shit, you almost forgot they didn’t have phones back then.

 

You glanced down to your phone, trying to figure out a way to explain it, “This is a phone… I can use it to call friends, or send them messages. It’s like… like writing a letter, but it takes way less time.” You tried to explain. They noticed that you looked out of your depth and seemed to take pity on you, nodding along with your half-assed explanation. They seemed concerned with your constant sighing and nervous ticks, a hand through your hair, fingers tapping against your thigh, rubbing at your face, but whilst you were scared out of your mind by the prospects of housing eight men from the 1700’s, and exhausted after a day of work, you couldn’t leave them to just fend for themselves. You finally found a contact from an old friend of yours, and while they don’t quite fill the ‘reliable’ criteria, they have a lot of mattresses. You could make up some sort of excuse for why you needed them and hide the guys or something once they got here…

 

You were about to call when you looked up to see the men staring at you, uncertain of what they should do.

 

“Oh, sorry guys.” You said, looking around for a moment, “Uh, Burr, could you show everyone out to the lounge room? I’ll be out soon to try work some stuff out, I just need a minute.” You asked. The man nodded, and despite a few begrudging looks, all the men walked away and out to the lounge room. Once they were gone you quickly pressed the contact for your friend, putting the phone up to your ear.

 

“Eyoo, wassup?” The voice finally answered, shouting through the phone. You cringed for a moment, the man obviously intoxicated, but it wasn’t often that he wasn’t inebriated, one way or another. You silently wondered why your life had come to this before replying.

 

“Mitch, hey. Can I… Can I ask for a solid?” You asked.

 

“Yell ye, go for it.” 

 

You sighed quietly to yourself, head supported by your hand as you spoke. At this rate you were gonna fall asleep standing, “Can I borrow… like 6 mattresses from you, or at least as close to that number as you can get?” You asked, hoping it didn’t arouse suspicion.

 

“Uh… yeah, I guess. Why 6? That’s a helluva lot of mattresses, gurl.” He asked, doing exactly what you hoped he wouldn’t.

 

“A whole lotta family’s dropped in unexpectedly, they wanna stay the night but I don’t have the room, and I’ve only got 2 blow up mattresses.” You excused. It wasn’t that much of a stretch, and if he saw them when he came to drop them, it wouldn’t be too weird. Then you remembered the colonial clothing they wore, “They’re doing a weird ass LARP tomorrow and it’s… shit’s getting weird, man.” You said. 

 

The voice on the other side of the line was near silent for a moment, and you wondered if you’d stretched the lie, even if it was the most truthful lie you’d ever told.

 

Suddenly laughter filled said silence, but whilst you were worried for a moment, it seemed to be from the strange excuse rather than any sort of ‘I figured out your plan’ laugh, “I’ll bring em over in the hour.” He finally said through his fits of giggles.

 

“Alright, thank you Mitch. But are you able to drive? You sound... ”

 

“I’m fine, I’m fine! I’ll be careful.” He assured, before hanging up. You let out a loud exhale, sitting on your office chair and leaning your head on the desk, feeling the stress from this sudden, messy change, and the exhaustion of the day weigh heavily on you. You wanted to take a nap, but you couldn’t imagine the men outside taking well to a stranger knocking on the door. You rested your head for a moment, not daring to close your eyes in case you accidentally fell asleep, before forcing yourself up and out into the lounge room again. 

 

By now the mattresses you did have were blown up, and the boys were poking at them in awe, trying to work out how they worked. Despite them being a good 200 years old, they were acting a lot younger than you thought, their wide eyes of curiosity almost… adorable?

 

You certainly never thought you’d be describing the founding fathers in that way.

 

They noticed you come in, anyone poking at the mattresses quickly straightening up, “Guys, relax, you’re allowed to be curious.” You waved them off, seeing them visibly unstiffen, “So uh… can we all sit down and try to work out what’s happening here, first and foremost?” You asked. Everyone seemed alright with that, Hamilton, Lafayette, Laurens and Mulligan taking the couch, to the dismay of the others, who decided to use the mattresses.

 

You pulled over a chair, rubbing your face with your hands for a second before scanning the room, “Alright, so here’s the deal. I don’t know how I’m going to get you back, if you go back at all, but until then you’re all staying here. I have a friend bringing over more mattresses until we work out something a bit more permanent.” You told them, “Then we’re gonna go shopping for some clothes that aren’t...” you gesture them up and down, “that.”

 

“What’s wrong with this?” Jefferson asked, fixing his magenta coattails as he sat.

 

“No one wears stuff like that anymore, you guys are gonna stand out. And frankly, I don’t need that. So once Mitch has dropped off the mattresses and we’re set up in here, we’re going out to buy some clothes.” You suddenly realised that you’d have to be the one paying for said clothing, biting your lip in annoyance. This was gonna be the real problem, wasn’t it? Paying to allow eight grown ass men to live in your little apartment. To be able to eat, to wear clothes, to have basic appliances. 

 

You thought about proposing they get jobs, but… that made everything difficult.

 

They didn’t exactly turn up with a bunch of modern papers, no birth certificate, no degrees, no previous qualifications. It’s like they’re teenagers who have no legal documentation.

 

The men seemed to notice your mind ticking away, and while they looked concerned, most of them turned to one another in conversation, having their own things to work out. You did find yourself startled when you felt a hand on your shoulder, looking up to see Washington by your side.

 

“I see you’re struggling to cope with this change,” He noted, to which you nodded, “It feels like a lot, but I’m certain it’s nothing we can’t figure out.” He assured, squeezing you in a show of support.

 

You wanted to nod along, believe the man, but at this point you were too tired and stressed to be able to hold it together enough to believe such a thing, “I just don’t know how i’m going to support you all. You have no legal documentation, not even birth certificates. If the manager of the complex sees you all in here, I could get evicted, and I’m going to have to pay for everything for you all plus me. It’s… it’s beyond the point of being ridiculous, at this stage.” You said, and while you could feel panic slowly overtaking you, you weren’t about to show that in front of the President.

It seems that your little rant had caught the attention of everyone else in the room, too, even if you hadn’t noticed it yet. They watched you, a few with looks of concern, others in pity.

 

“I don’t want to fuck this up, for  _ once _ I want to get something right, but-” You shook your head, and you could feel tears start to well up in your eyes, “It doesn’t matter, once Mitch gets here we can all get to sleep, we’ll go clothes shopping in the morning.” You said, hastily wiping your eyes, “I’m gonna grab a glass of water.” You said quietly, standing and starting to walk over to the kitchen, “anyone else want one?” Everyone shook their heads, turning back to one another as you turned away and walked into the kitchen.

 

You grabbed a glass from the cabinet, heading to the sink and filling it before taking a deep swig. You almost wished you had something stronger, drown your sorrows for once, but alcohol was too expensive for you to buy it on the willy nilly. Who knows, maybe Mitch would have some.

 

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. You placed down your cup, half jogging over to the door before turning to the men, giving them a look of ‘please-don’t-do-anything-weird’ before opening the door. There stood Mitch in all his… well, you’d say glory, but he wasn’t exactly a sight to behold.

 

His clothes were stained and daggy, hair unkempt, and he looked more shitfaced than he sounded on the phone. You couldn’t believe he drove like that.

 

“Heyy, got you your mattresses! You’re welcome, dude.” He said, finger gunning in your direction. You chuckled before seeing them stacked in the back of his ute, barely tied down.

 

“Thank you so much Mitch, how long can I have them for?” You asked.

 

“I mean, I have plenty at home, so as long as you give em back eventually, have em for as long as you like. You probably aren’t gonna need them long though, are you? Since it’s just your fam.”

 

Oh shit, you forgot about that little lie for a minute.

 

“Well, it turns out they might stay longer than expected, is all. It’s a bit shitty but they’re family, y’know?” You said, shrugging. Mitch nodded in understanding before heading to his ute, sliding off one of the mattresses and handing it to you, him grabbing one also.

 

“Oh, if you just pile them up against the wall I’ll take them in,” you said as you dropped the first mattress inside, “or just… just dropping them by the door here’s all good too, whatever tickles your fancy.” You shrugged. He gave you a weird look for a second before shrugging and doing as you did, placing the mattress on top of the last inside. It only took a few minutes to get them all in, you smiling and thanking Mitch as he hopped back into the ute and drove out, the gate opening for him as he left. 

 

You turned around to go inside, seeing the mattresses already gone. As you walked into the lounge room, you saw everyone setting them up, shifting them so they fit into the space. It was a tight fit, albeit, but they managed.

 

The little act of them doing such added a little relief to an afternoon that had felt like a constant assault. You smiled a little, maybe for the first time that afternoon, as they turned around and saw you.

 

“Tada!!” Lafayette announced when they saw you enter the room, making that small smile grow just a little more. 

 

“Wow, thank you guys!” You said, grinning a bit as you walked over. You felt a hand on your shoulder once more, Washington looking down at you with a small smile.

 

“This isn’t the best situation for you, but we’re willing to make it as easy as possible.” He said, giving you a nod of respect. You grinned his way, thanking him.

 

“We’re gonna make this thing fun though, yeah?” Hercules asked, glancing around, “We aren’t just gonna sit here glaring at one another. This is our second chance! We learn to get along, and we learn how to live in the 2000’s.” He said. You were a little surprised by his words, “Besides, think of all the ladies! We have a whole new reputation to build up!” You couldn’t help chuckle along with the rest.

 

“Yeah, well if you plan on bringing back ladies, or men, for that matter, you’d best be telling me so I can sort out a room for y’all or something.” You chuckled. With everyone else wearing smiles around you, you felt at least a little hopeful. Maybe this would turn out ok. Maybe things could go just fine.


	2. Settling In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite your worry about this strange revelation you'd stumbled upon, you were glad that the people you'd wound up with were some of the sweetest you'd ever met.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jeez I'm tired, haha. Wanted to get this out while I'm still feeling inspired for this story, most of it was written in my half asleep stupor so if there are mistakes, that's my bad. I might come in and edit tomorrow but I have work so we'll just have to wait and see!  
> Hope you guys enjoy never the less!

It wasn’t long after setting up the mattresses that everyone went to bed, exhausted from the day’s ordeal. You too were exhausted, but despite how tired you’d been, you found yourself continuously waking up, mind too full of questions to fully relax. Rubbing your eyes in annoyance, you sit up in your bed. The boys had insisted, despite you saying you could sleep on the couch in case they needed something in the night, that you sleep in your own bed, and that if there was truly something they needed, they could find you there.  But your curiosity was getting the better of you, and sleep was frustratingly difficult. You were probably going to have to call off sick for work tomorrow, but at least it’d give you a day to sort things out for when you were back at work. 

You picked your laptop up off of the floor, turning the brightness down and searching each man’s name. Even if it sounded creepy, or stalkerish, knowing about these guys would be super helpful. And it’s not like people search their names every day for school and stuff.

 

Alright, obvious people first, Alexander Hamilton. His name was on the book thrown at your head, after all.

 

Most of the information was pretty arbitrary, as if people decided to just chuck together the most random parts of his life, but when you stumbled upon a reliable looking source, you found that he’d had quite the life.

 

An Immigrant who crawled his way to the top, becoming Treasury Secretary, established America’s banks, only to be destroyed by the controversy of an affair and accusations of treason, by none other than James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. Not to mention Burr being the one who killed him in the end.

 

Jefferson was a rich man, Secretary of State and best friends with Madison. Hamilton and him were well known rivals. He also ended up being 3rd President of the US, which you’d known, but considering you now had two presidents sleeping in your house, it was a lot to suddenly realise.

 

Madison was the president after him… Ok, three presidents. Jeez, this was weird. He was known to be Jefferson’s hype man, and was quite sick. You thought back to when you met, how he’d been coughing. Maybe you could help him with that, what with the revelations of medicine and technology hundreds of years in the future.

 

Laurens was Hamilton’s best friend, killed in the war when the enemy hadn’t heard that the war was over. He was passionate about abolishing slavery (Shit, you’d forgotten they had slaves and stuff back then...) and was an advocate for general equality.

 

Lafayette, another of Hamilton’s close friends, and an integral part of the French Revolution. He was also a huge help in the success of America’s war against Britain.

 

Mulligan completed the trio of friends, a tailor’s apprentice and a spy on the British government, not to mention a well known womaniser-

 

“Uh, excuse me?” You were startled out of your secret studying to see a man standing in your doorway, his freckles visible even in the dim light your laptop emitted. 

 

“Laurens! Sorry, I didn’t wake you, did I?” You questioned, shifting the laptop to the side as you got up from your bed, approaching the man before you. He looked somewhat sheepish, hand running through the hair that he’d let free from it’s ponytail.

 

“No, I was awake anyway. Too much to think on to fall asleep, y’know?” He said, you nodding in understanding, “But i saw the light and thought I’d see if you were ok. This is a big change, after all.” You sent him a small, grateful smile before turning to allow him into your room.

 

“Here, sit with me. I can’t sleep either, so you can keep me company while I try find out more about you weirdos.” You said, before quickly catching yourself, “I meant weirdos in an affectionate way, I promise.” He didn’t seem to think you’d said it to be hostile in the first place, but chuckled quietly at your added words, sitting beside you on your bed as you grabbed back your laptop.

 

“So what’s that?” John asked, eyes wide in awe, “Is it a modern light source of some kind?” You chuckled, shaking your head.

 

“Nah, this is a laptop. Think of it like a book, except it’s a lot of books rolled into one that you can find by searching for what you want to know. You can write with it too, and there’s different things you can add to make it do different things, like let you make art.” You said, “It just uses light so you can see what’s on it. I don’t really get how it works myself, but it’s not dangerous or anything.” Laurens seemed intrigued, and you grinned, opening the laptop up to show what you’d been looking at.

 

“So there’s stuff on your… laptop, about all of us?” He asked, shifting closer to you so he could see.

 

“Of course there is, you guys were integral to America becoming free, and getting to where we are now. We learn about you guys in school, but I was never good in history. Just enough to pass, if I was lucky.” You said with a small chuckle, “Look, it’s even got all this about you, about how you wanted to abolish slavery and how you fought in the war-” You started, looking to see Laurens with a thoughtful look on his face, as if he was trying to remember something, “You all good man?”

 

He quickly glanced back up at you, startled for a moment before grinning, “Oh, yeah I’m… I’m alright. Just thinking about that… it’s been 235 years since I died.” You blinked for a moment in surprise, still not quite used to the idea that these guys were over 200 years old and had already died,

 

“Well that’s plenty to think on by itself, isn’t it?” You said with a small chuckle, wanting to make light of the situation. It must be difficult for the guys as much as it was for you to adjust.

 

A small smile managed to crack through, but he looked up at you in genuine concern, and you could almost see the flames of passion in his eyes, “But has anything I fought for changed?”

 

You grinned a little. These boys were in for a treat, learning about the effect their accomplishments had, “You have no idea, John.” You quickly launched into the different things you did know that happened in relation to slavery after he died, how it was abolished, how things now were so much more equal. Not perfect, by any means, but more equal. You looked up articles, about successful people of colour, about different laws that were passed and how they came to be, finding anything to help explain the great change that’s happened through 235 years.

 

“And it’s not just slaves, women and men have so many more rights, and people who are gay-”

 

“Really??” By now, the poor man looked astounded, seemingly not believing that the thing he never got to see come to be in his time, has finally happened, and that he was living in a world where it was, “I can’t… I don’t know how to take this, it’s really amazing.” 

 

The look on the man’s face was enough to tell you that he was ecstatic, and hearing about different revolutionary events seemed to truly intrigue him. You wondered it it could be something he could get a job in, now in the modern age. It’s something he’d be interested, you’d never really seen someone as passionate about freedom as John.

 

The pair of you chatted for hours, bouncing from rights to general technology and medications of the future, somehow turning into talking about turtles, an animal that Laurens adores, but it seemed that fatigue was finally catching up with you both.

 

“Well, I guess I’ll leave you so you can sleep, take advantage of the few hours of night we have left.” Laurens said, standing. You smiled, nodding before giving him a quick hug. You felt like you and Laurens could be good friends, you had a lot of similar interests, and his passion was infectious.

 

“Night Laurens, you try get some sleep too.” You said, pulling away with a smile. The man looked exhausted, so any sleep he could get would all be for the best.

 

He chuckled quietly as he stepped over to the door, “Yeah, that won’t be happening. Alex and Thomas have been whispering death threats to one another all night, and I doubt they’ve tired yet. I’m in the middle of them because I thought separating them would make it stop, but it’s just kept me awake more than my own thoughts were.” You sighed, making a mental note to talk to the pair in the morning.

 

“Well you sleep in here, I’ll go sleep on the couch.” You said, walking past him and nudging him back into the room, “I think after all you guys have been through, you’re in more need of sleep than I am.” You saw the man about to protest, but you quickly shushed him, once again assuring that you were fine with it before shuffling out into the lounge room, seeing the group of men lying asleep on the floor.

 

Yeah, that’s gonna be weird for a long time.

 

You saw Lauren’s mattress, the only one empty, and Alex and jefferson on either side, very visibly glaring one another down. You huffed quietly, stepping over to grab the blanket and pillow whilst shooting looks at them both, “If I hear one word out of either of you for the rest of the night I’ll kick you both.” You hissed before walking over to the couch, flopping down onto it and trying to get comfortable. You were fine with not having a great sleep, but being able to sleep a little would be fantastic.

 

You finally got comfortable, head resting on the pillow when someone put their hand on your shoulder, firmly shaking you. You quickly opened your eyes, flinching when Hamilton was right in front of your face.

 

“Hamilton, what’s the matter?” You asked, seeing him looking back worriedly.

 

“Have you seen Laurens? He got up and I haven’t seen him come back, then you grabbed his stuff-”

 

“He’s in my room, he couldn’t sleep.” You thought you’d spare him the guilt of knowing that it was partly his fault for arguing with Jefferson, “Nothing’s wrong, I promise.” He nodded slowly at that, but you could see something in his expression that was deeper than just a slight concern for where his friend was.

 

He breathed out, as if he’d been holding his breath the whole time, “I just wanted to make sure he’d actually been there. Having him here after so long-”

 

“You don’t want to lose him again.” You stated, sitting up a little on the couch. The man nodded, leaning back against the couch.

 

“He was my best friend, and losing him felt like the catalyst for every other thing going wrong in my life. I didn’t want this to be a dream, as weird as this all is.” He explained quietly, looking down at his hands, where his finger was tracing lines into his palm, almost as if he were writing.

 

“Trust me, I know how weird this is. I’ve got 8 random dudes in my house that appeared out of a book some guy threw at my head, and three of them were presidents.” You said, hearing a small laugh out of him, “But Laurens is here, and so is everyone else, and I’m going to do my absolute best to help you all adjust, get jobs, everything. I want you guys to have a second chance.” Alexander looked up at you, sending you a small smile.

 

“I think we’re all lucky that whoever threw that book at your head threw it at someone so generous.” He smiled, and you felt your heart swell in gratitude.

 

“Thank you, Alex. I’m just doing what I’d want someone to do for me.” You smiled, before nudging him with your knee, “now go get some sleep, and stop arguing with Jefferson. You’ll be living in the same house, you’d best learn how to get on with one another.” He groaned before standing up, patting your shoulder in thanks before stepping over Washington to get to his mattress.

 

You chuckled quietly, before laying your head back down on the pillow, feeling yourself drift off to sleep.

 

\---

 

The next morning, you were awoken by a gentle shaking of your shoulder, and although it startled you, even after you’d opened your eyes and saw Lafayette standing there with a gentle smile, you’d never been more ready to get up and greet the day. You had eight boys you were looking after now, and even if they were grown men, in the modern world they’d know about as much as a five year old if you let them loose for too long.

 

You quickly sprung up, seeing almost everyone up, a couple in the kitchen, looking at the appliances, others making their beds.

 

You actually grinned at that. You weren’t sure whether it was one of those first night politeness things, but it was a gesture that made you really thankful.

 

“Morning guys! Alright, let’s uh… lets work out what the heck we’re doing today.” You announced, drawing the attention of all the guys. You sat at the kitchen bench, dragging a notebook and pen sat on the other end over and starting to write, “Alright, you guys need clothing that doesn’t look like you’re headed to a LARP, and that’s enough clothes for a week before I get them cleaned at the laundromat, as well as pj’s. Then we need to work out the food situation, and how to sort out papers like birth certificates. Then we have to pretend you guys don’t live here because if the manager sees you guys here regularly she’s gonna think I’m hoarding more people than there are on my lease and I’ll be kicked out.” You rambled, writing everything down as you go, “And then once that’s all sorted, you guys are gonna need jobs. I can’t support nine of us by serving coffees and cleaning dishes, so once we’ve worked out clothes and food we need to find a way to get papers sorted. If we can’t do that, getting a bank account and job’s gonna be impossible-”

 

“We’ll do whatever we can to help you, don’t worry. Why don’t we get the things we need and then come back and work out all the papers you think we’ll need?” Washington offered. You nodded, thanking him as you looked over your list once more. Seeing it on paper as a checklist made it look manageable, at least, but you had a feeling that it wasn’t all going to be s simple.

 

“Ok, we’ll head out to get clothes. I don’t have a car and going on public transport is awkward, so we’ll just walk down to the store around the corner.” You said, checking the time. 9am, you’d slept in a bit, “I need to give work a call and tell them I can’t come in, then we’ll walk down.” You said. The boys looked between one another as you grabbed your phone.

 

You gave your supervisor, Damien, a quick ring and told him family stuff had come up and that you wouldn’t be in, to which he was a little suspicious as you didn’t talk too often about your family, but he relented and told you that you’d best be there for work the next day. The moment you hung up, you grabbed a bag, dropped your phone, wallet and house keys in before turning to see the guys. They were all looking at you expectantly, a couple of them fixing their hair after having it out all night.

 

“Alright, here’s the deal. Most people don’t wear clothing like you guys, but being in a group dressed like that gives us a bit of an advantage. If anyone asks, you’re doing a LARP… uh, a Live action roleplay, before you ask.” You explained, “And literally pretend to be yourselves. But hopefully people are just gonna just not be nosy.” Everyone seemed fine with the plan, following after you as you opened the door and headed out, leading them over to the gate. You punched in the numbers, pushing the gate open and walked out onto the footpath, the eight men following after you. You began to realise how weird this must have looked to onlookers, not only because of the outfits, but because there were eight men, some quite tall and burly, following after you _. _ You just hoped it didn’t look like they were stalking you, but by the way they were chatting and laughing with you, it must have seemed like you were a big group of really weird friends.

 

The store was a couple blocks up from the complex you lived in, and was relatively small and quiet, so it minimised the risk of people asking awkward questions. You got some stares on the way over, but nothing horrible.

 

Once inside, you swear you heard Hercules squeal. When you turned around he was grinning upon seeing all the different clothing. You realised that there was probably far more colour here than they ever would have gotten back then, despite how outrageous Jefferson’s magenta coat was.

 

You quickly told the men to try and not get anything too expensive, and to get at least 5 shirts, pants and pairs of underwear, and some decent shoes. They all ran off in separate directions while you went over to the women’s section, not planning on buying anything (With how much you were about to spend, you didn’t think you wanted to spend money on yourself ever again.) but seeing what was in stock. The first to join you was Burr, who’d quickly grabbed a few simple shirts and pants. You told him to go try them on to make sure they fit, pointing him over to the dressing rooms. He came out with a simple white button up and black jeans, matched with black work shoes. You gave him a thumbs up in approval, just as Laurens approached you. He had some casual wear held in his arms, with Alexander not far behind him.

 

“You don’t have to check up with me for approval, just go try them on and I’ll tell you if it’s a yay or nay.” You said. The two men quickly headed for the dressing room around the same time Jefferson did. You didn’t even bother looking up as the two rivals started arguing over who got to go into what dressing room. The poor man behind the counter looked distraught, seeming certain that there was about to be a punch up. You sidled over and quickly assured that they weren’t being serious, using the LARP-esque appearance to your advantage and just saying that the pair were very much in character and wanted to practise. The dude didn’t seem to see it as too far fetched, but asked the pair to keep their practising to a minimum. By then everyone else had grabbed their clothing and were lined up behind the bickering pair, Washington holding a steady glare. 

 

Everyone quickly got changed, you finding that Hercules, despite being indecisive about the quality of the clothing, was the quickest to choose the clothes that simultaneously looked best on him, and that were the cheapest. You barely had time to think on it before he bound over, marvelling over the dresses and telling you which colours would best suit your skintone, the best way to take in certain parts of larger dresses so they were more flattering, whilst trying to figure out the more varied fabrics he’d never encountered, like sequins.

 

The tailor had preoccupied you long enough before everyone was finished and had gotten your seal of approval, you sighing as you grabbed your wallet and the mountains of clothing were piled up before the man. Someone was sure to get a pay rise, at least.

 

Despite the clothes being quite cheap, the final price tag left you feeling a little queasy. You tried not to show it, however, even when the guys questioned you about it, merely telling them to get into an outfit so they could go grocery shopping.

 

Most of the guys had gone for looks similar to Burr, with a simple button up shirt and long pants, and even though they appeared to feel out of place, you assured them that they all looked fine.

 

...Fine was one way to put it, at least.

 

The brightest of the bunch was a competition between Jefferson, to no one’s surprise, who’d made sure that all his shirts were at least a shade of pink or purple, and Washington, surprisingly, who was wearing a brilliant shade of yellow, saying that the colour reminded him of his wife. You suddenly felt the realisation, once more, that these men had lived an extensive life, even if, somehow, their ages didn’t all reflect such. They were now centuries away from their loved ones, and you couldn’t begin to imagine how much that hurt them all.

 

Despite the moment being a heavy one, you tried to remain positive as you ushered the men out of the store, thanking the poor boy behind the counter once more before headed just up the road to the grocery store. 

 

“Alright, after that, I’m just buying shit-tons of ramen.” You said, only half joking. You explained quickly what ramen was and that it was one of the cheaper things to buy that would properly fill you, before trying to think of other things. You couldn’t all live of sodium noodles forever…

 

“But I guess we need some fruit and vege too, I heard blueberries are selling pretty cheap at the moment.” You sighed, before turning to the boys. Now they were dressed normally, with bags filled with both old and new clothing, they just looked like very giddy adults, “You guys can have  a look around if you want, if anything is relatively cheap come find me and I’ll have a look.” You said before going to grab a trolley, wheeling it out as the guys followed you. You just hoped they didn’t do something stupid like open packet of stuff or eat the apples on display or something.

 

Thankfully, everything went smoothly. You grabbed enough ramen to give one person a heart attack, as well as some blueberries, which were thankfully cheap, apples and bananas, some oranges and lemons, and a few random veggies so you could make a salad one night. You also made sure to grab the necessary staples of a normal, functioning kitchen in case, god forbid, you actually had to cook a meal. The only things you could have considered mishaps were the strange reactions to tomatoes. The moment Lafayette caught sight of them on display, you saw him back away, questioning a poor stranger beside him as to why such a ‘dangerous food’ was being sold freely to unsuspecting customers. Soon all the guys were there, trying to figure out why they were there. You quickly found out that tomatoes were quite dangerous in their time, being sure to tell them that now, they weren’t at all dangerous.

 

You were relieved that the overall cost wasn’t as bad as you’d expected, but you just hoped that you could work out those papers and get everyone jobs quickly. 

 

Once everyone had evenly distributed the bags, with many offers to take all the ones you were carrying (which you refused, everyone had enough to carry already), you headed home, checking your watch to see it’s been a few hours that you’ve been out. It was lunch time, and even though all you could provide was ramen, no one seemed to mind, even the richer of the lot, like Jefferson. Everyone was being so accepting of what you were able to provide, and no one was complaining. You couldn’t help the smile that had settled on your face, despite a voice in the back of your head nagging at you about the heinous amounts of money you’d spent.

 

The moment you were back home you flopped onto the couch, bags still hanging off your arms as everyone set about setting their things up around their mattresses…

 

Jeez, you were never not gonna feel bad about this mattress situation.

 

Despite feeling terrible about it, no complaints were raised about the bedding, and you managed to find some boxes in a back cupboard that the boys could use to store their clothes in. You made enough ramen for everyone, and everything felt content, despite a looming worry of your financial situation. You just prayed that everything from here went smoothly.


	3. A Talk Amongst Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ramen: Eaten  
> Laptop: Open  
> Research: Depressing
> 
> You are forcibly made to be annoyed by bullshit refugee policy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya guys! I'm back at it again with another chapter! It's a bit shorter than usual, but the last couple chapters were sort of huge, so it's hard to compete with that. Even so, I have a bit of an idea of where the story is going, now that I've done some actual research, so here we are!  
> I did want to ask, would you guys like a romantic pairing between one of the guys and Reader? It would be one unanimously voted on by you guys, but I wanted to see if it's something you'd like to see from this book!  
> Also, what would you like the name of Reader to be? It won't be used in story or anything, just a fun little thing we'd call 'em in comments and me in the notes and such. Something to think about and comment below!  
> Also also, if you guys haven't checked out NaNoWriMo (A competition I'm doing this year!) Please do! It looks super fun, and I'm really excited!  
> This is the novel I'll be writing, and I'll be keeping you all updated on it as I go! https://nanowrimo.org/participants/amorentia-quibble/novels (I dunno how to actually link it, but it's a link I promise XD)  
> I hope you guys enjoy!

The quick ramen lunch wasn’t as crappy as you’d been anticipating, all the men seeming not to mind the fast meal. It gave you all time to get to know each other better, or at least, for them to get to know you, and vice versa. 

 

“So, what do you do for a living?” Was the first question from Jefferson, leaning over the kitchen bench as his fork twisted the noodle strands around it, seeming mildly amused for a reason you couldn’t quite pin.

 

You shrugged as you took a sip of water, “I’m in college at the moment, so I’m just working a few jobs, one at a little patisserie down the road, another at a shitty clothes store built entirely on outdated pop culture references.” You said. The ‘pop culture references’ thing seemed to go over their heads, but caught the gist of it. 

 

“So what are you in college for?” Hamilton asked next, seeming a lot more genuinely curious than Jefferson.

 

“At the moment I’m studying humanitarian work and such, but I’ve done courses in a bunch of things, laboratory skills, hospitality, aged care and disabled care,” You replied, listing them off. There were a few more you’d done, but they were usually paired with what you had done, or small enough to have been stuff you could probably have done for free online, like a sign language course, “but I either don’t have enough to qualify for good jobs or there just aren’t any available here. This isn’t really a big city, and with all my study I can’t afford to leave to find opportunities.” You finished, looking around your apartment. It was decent, that’s for sure, but small, and in a place where there wasn’t much for you to do with yourself. You didn’t even really know what you wanted to do, still, and you were out of school. It was a fact your family hated, but you didn’t really care much what they thought of you anymore.

 

“Is there any sort of significant other in the mix, here?” Hercules asked, you choking on the noodles you’d just began to eat again. After a fair while of sputtering, with eight faces holding varying levels of amusement staring down at you while you did so, you finally cleared your throat.

 

“Nope.”

 

“And you expect us to believe you after a reaction like that?” Laurens laughed.

 

You sent him a playful glare, before shaking your head, “It just gave me a shock, that’s all. The last thing I’d have in a place where I don’t particularly wanna settle down in is a lover. It’s the  _ last _ thing on my mind at the moment, especially with you rapscallions running amok in my home.”

 

“Do people actually still say rapscallion?” Hamilton chuckled, you joining in after a moment.

 

“Nah, it’s one of those old-timey words we use to emphasise a… joke, I guess. If that’s the way to put it. Like if i were to make a jest at someone, might be a better way to put it.”

 

“Example?”

 

“Ok uh… Oh shit I have a really good one, actually.” You grinned, eyes turning back to Jefferson, still seeming amused about something. Time to flip that around. “If I were to say,” You cleared your throat dramatically, before leaning over the kitchen counter toward Thomas, ‘Jefferson! You have a hideous, hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman!’ It’s a complete joke because I barely know what the fuck I just said.” I laugh, watching as realisation crept onto Jefferson’s face.

 

“Hold up, I got someone to write that-”

 

“In the Election of 1800, I know. It was the most hilarious thing I’d ever heard in history class when I looked up ‘Quotes from Thomas Jefferson’ and I learnt it by heart.” 

 

By now there were a few muffled giggles from Hamilton, Lafayette, Hercules and Laurens as they watched Jefferson’s own insult backfire on him, hundreds of years on from when he made the statement.

 

“So all those things we said, you can still access them?” Washington asked, surprising you after a moment. He’d been pretty quiet the whole way through, maybe letting the younger guys have their fun.

 

You nodded at his question, “Yeah, we have things like the internet where people have spent their whole lives documenting and collecting information on significant figures in history, using newspaper articles, political statements, letters, you name it, to collect information and teach it to kids in history class.” You explained, “Having it online just means anyone with the technology to access it, which is most people in this day and age, can use it to learn. And with advancing technology, people find it easier to share information today, like if there’s a national emergency, or a shooting or something, people find out pretty quickly. Less learning from word of mouth, and all that jazz.”

 

The boys seemed somewhat confused, but intrigued all the same. After a little while longer of you explaining the semantics of the internet and what you could find there, (There was no end to the questions of, “Can you search about me? What about dogs? What about other countries?”) All the ramen had been eaten, and you decided that you couldn’t put off the research you needed to complete.

 

Sighing, you hopped away from the counter and collected up all the used bowls, chucking them in the sink to clean up later before grabbing your laptop from a nearby table. You quickly found yourself lying on your couch, opening up your computer to try and work out this legal documentation. But where do you start? This sort of thing was complicated, it wasn’t like there were people travelling through time magically from 200 plus years ago on the regular. Not to mention how hard some of this stuff can be to organise for those  _ with  _ basic papers. What was the protocol for this type of situation? Were these documents something you could forge, if you really tried? 

 

You didn’t particularly wanna go down that route, but if you had to, you wanted to know about it. You weren’t about to let legality put this group of men in danger if that was what it would come down to. Besides, it wasn’t the first time you’d broken the law, you’d pirated music and stuff before. Hell, you could be considered an A-grade criminal at this point.

 

The guys were busy chatting in the kitchen, providing you with some background noise while you curled up on the old couch, knees tucked close with your laptop balanced atop, fingers darting away at the keyboard as you began to make your search, wondering how to word these searches in a way that wouldn’t have the CIA or Illuminati on your ass.

 

_ Refugees and personal documentation. _

 

That was innocent enough, right? There was no denying that the situation was similar to one of many refugees. No documentation, like many running from somewhere, to keep their identities safe. It was close enough to surely have similar legislation, and looking up stuff about refugees wasn’t about to gather a lot of suspicion toward you. 

 

But the search wasn’t bringing up any results that felt promising. 

 

_ For a refugee, the lack of identity documents may be far more than a source of inconvenience. In almost all countries an alien must be able to prove not only his identity but also that his presence in the country is lawful. In some counties aliens without appropriate documentation are subject to detention and sometimes even to summary expulsion. Such measures are particularly serious for a refugee, for whom they could also involve the risk of being returned to his country of origin. _

 

That could have been the scariest paragraph you had ever read.

 

Without documentation, or evidence of the men now residing in your home even existing, they could be held in detention centers, or ‘sent back to their country’. With a few of the guy’s appearances, you suddenly feared that some dangerous assumptions could be made there, too. 

 

What’s worse is that they’re with you, in your house. What would that reflect onto you? That you somehow smuggled 8 refugee men into the country, residing in your house, and breaking your apartment’s lease laws too? That had to carry some sort of federal prison time, or at the least, heavy fines that you had no way of being able to pay back.

 

As lovely as the guys have been in the last 24 hours or so, you were really beginning to hate whoever had thrown that damned book at your head.

 

Just as you felt all hope fading, a hand landed on your shoulder. You jumped at the sudden touch, having been so engrossed in the document before you, and your own despair, but calmed slightly when you spotted Burr and Madison behind you, the hand on your shoulder belonging to Burr. 

 

Both men looked concerned as you glanced back at them, making you wonder just how upset you looked, “Are you alright?” Maddison asked, peering over at the machine propped on top of your legs, possibly curious as to how it works, but seeming worried, maybe because it was the visible source of your frustration and stress, “You look… concerned.”

 

You chuckled tiredly, a hand running over your face as you nodded, “Yeah I’m… The opposite of alright at the moment.” You admitted, “The search for ways to get you guys legal documentation isn’t going fantastically, I’m afraid.” You muttered as you scrolled through the document with the UN’s refugee legislations, about legal documentation, the necessity for it. It was driving you up a wall every time you saw the word ‘alien’ flash across the screen, dehumanising people fleeing from war-torn countries or places of hate. You were sure that whoever wrote the document never thought that the word would be able to accurately describe the situation of America’s Founding Fathers, but here you were, with the first freaking American President standing in your kitchen and playing with a toaster.

 

“Legal documents can’t be that hard to make, can they? I would have thought with these advances in technology, it would be far more simple-”

 

“Burr, you guys shouldn’t exist,” You snapped, “You have no birth certificates, no identification, not even a family picture,  _ nothing _ . Having you guys here makes it look like I’ve smuggled a group of mystery people into the country. Going some place and asking for these legal documents is like announcing that on a world stage with a freaking megaphone!” You exclaimed, sitting up with your hands flailing dramatically in the air, “‘Hey everyone! Someone know where I can grab, like, eight birth certificates and other offical documents for these guys who look suspiciously like the founding fathers?! No?!’” You imitated, before deadpanning, hand in your hair in frustration, both at your current short fuse and at the situation in itself, “We’d all be arrested, me put in prison, you guys in detention centers, possibly sent places you were never even born because this country’s so  _ fucking racist _ .” You growled the last bit out bitterly, slamming your laptop closed as your hands instinctively went up to your face, muffling your words.

 

“I just feel like I can’t save you guys.”

 

The room was quiet, Burr’s hand having left your shoulder when you had first snapped at him, but you heard footsteps as the two men came around the the front of the couch, Burr kneeling in front of you. You peeked out between your fingers at the pair, both looking sombre, and worried, maybe even hopeless. Your panicked rant didn’t seem to have helped much either, the men looking even more concerned about you.

 

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Madison asked, crouching down to be on your level, along with Burr. You sighed, shaking your head, removing your hands from your face as you stared up at the ceiling of your apartment.

 

“I don’t know what I could ask of anyone to make this feel any better. It’s just… the ultimate  _ shitty _ situation. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do! I can’t just sit here and not do something, y’know? But just… Just what am I meant to be doing?!” You huffed, sitting up on the couch now. The two men looked at each other, seeming just as lost as you. 

 

You were surprised when Aaron opened his arms up, sending you a small grimace of uncertainty. You were shocked for a moment, surprised that he would be so open in such a short amount of time. Maybe he was just trying to find some way to reach out to you, even if it was uncomfortable to him. Despite this, you returned the grimace, leaning into him as his arms wrapped around you, him and James rubbing your back to comfort you as well as possible. It felt a little awkward, the guys not seeming to know how to return the affection. Even if it did feel a little stiff, you’d be hard pressed to ever refuse a hug, and it did help to calm you down somewhat, the situation feeling more at ease. The men were here to help you as much as you were to help them. They were there for you, it would help you get through. 

 

The whole thing still felt a little hopeless, but not enough to give up. You had to get your head in the game, for both the sake of you and the guys with you.

 

There were a few more moments of quiet hugging before you pulled away, thanking the boys and pushing your laptop aside as your mind raced. This was your reality now, and you had to own up to it. Moping, pretending that things were different, doing anything like that wasn’t going to help your situation, or the eight men now living with you. So now you had a choice. Take your chances with sorting papers legally, or finding illegal loopholes, someone you can trust to pull through for you without thinking you were insane.

 

But who would you call? Your friends mostly resided in your places of work, or… School.

 

Your mind quickly drew you to Rue Sophmore, one of the more brilliant minds in your college course. You weren’t hugely close, but that was mostly because of the lectures you’d missed thanks to shifts at work, and just keeping your head down to get the work done whenever you did manage to make an appearance in class.

 

Despite a lack of companionship, you both got along fine, and she often talked of her family’s history of working in law, and that despite choosing a different career path for herself, one closer to the lines of humanitarian work, she was well taught in legal proceedings and papers from different countries, something her mother worked in for a long time.

 

She’d be the perfect person to ask on this, to trust, but how on earth would you convince her that the eight men were the Founding Fathers? Would she even accept to something like this if it wasn’t the Founding Fathers?

 

You guessed that you were gonna have to take your chances on this one.

 

You almost forgot that Burr and Madison were still crouched in front of you, eying you in concern thanks to the long stretch of silence.

 

“I think… I think I might have an idea. It’s not a solid one, but it’s better than nothing at all.” You said, standing up with your laptop held in your arms, walking out of the living room and rushing past the kitchen to your room, putting the laptop back down and swapping it for your phone. You’ll give her a call, at least see if she’d be interested in  _ talking  _ about the subject…

 

...Nerves started to kick in.

 

Sure, you’d talked before, on occasion, but for something as big as this? Bouncing that on someone who wasn’t even really your friend sounds like an asshole move, not to mention the legality of this once more. You were dragged into this by that stupid book, you had no choice, even if you wanted to have one, but pulling this poor woman into a messy black hole of confusion against her own accord when you didn’t have to… Would that make you any better than the asshole in that car? You wouldn't want someone to do that to you, why would you return the favour just for personal gain?

 

You slowly lowered the phone, flopping back to sit on your bed. No, you needed to approach this more carefully, get to know her. Springing this on someone wouldn’t be easy, you just had to get to know her better, befriend her properly, work this sort of thing into conversation (which wouldn’t be hard, considering things regarding refugees and immigration in general was most of what she spoke about without prompting) and when you knew you could trust her, and that she might be cool with it, then you could spring it on her. It was something you’d have to plan, but at least that would be something you had. One step above what you were expecting, if you were honest with yourself. 

 

Worst comes to worst, you make a friend, and the friend says no. You're not gonna force her into something like this, that's for certain.

 

You had three classes each week you attended, so you’d have to utilise them as best you could to befriend Rue, for the sake of the 8 men living with you.

 

You just hoped you could get this to work quickly…

 

"Hey, you alright in here?" You glanced up to see Washington, sending you a soft smile from outside the door. You nodded, unconsciously straightening your clothes and smoothing out your bedsheets as he stepped into the room. You weren't sure you'd ever get used to the first president living in your home, he just held himself in such a way that exuded power and prestige.

 

"Yeah! A little brilliant, actually. I might have worked something out with this whole documentation thing, it's just gonna take some time." You said, putting your phone down and inviting the man to sit. He shook his head, deciding to stand in front of you instead.

 

"As long as you're handling everything fine?" He questioned once again, seeming to be trying to prompt something out of you, "I can't begin to imagine how this has shaken up your life, it's a lot to handle at once."

 

"You can say that again..." You muttered under your breath, only just loud enough for Washington to heard, "But I can't just mope and pretend this isn't my reality. Besides, you guys are nice enough that I don't mind your company, and you've been... extremely supportive. And weirdly calm about everything." You laughed quietly, "I just feel sorry for you guys, you had a family back there, a life you'd been living, but you're here now, and even if it's a second chance, it's a second chance where you hold the knowledge of what you leave behind." You say, looking up at the man in sympathy, "I think i should be asking how you're coping, I might learn a thing or two." 

 

Now it was Washington's turn to chuckle, him leaning against the wall behind him as he thought.

 

"It hasn't been easy, that I'll admit. But nothing ever is, some things just come easier than others. I miss my wife, and I miss the familiarity of the world we once resided in, but like you said, there's no point to moping. This is our reality now." He said, before shrugging, "Besides, it seems to me that everyone here had died before finding themselves here, we didn't have much choice in staying." Oh yeah, you'd forgotten about that.

 

You hesitated for a moment before looking up at the man, then glancing off to the side, "Do you remember it? Death and such?" You asked, fingers fiddling awkwardly with each other, "I know it's not the most comfortable question, but-"

 

"No, I don't remember death itself. I only remember the time leading up to it, and even then, it doesn't come to mind often." He said, finally deciding to sit beside you, "Death is unavoidable, and I was lucky enough to have lived a fruitful life before mine."

 

God this guy was just full of wisdom.

 

There was a stretch of silence between you both, before Washington stood up, a hand falling to your shoulder, "We can't thank you enough for what you're doing for us, we'll do everything in our power to lighten the load." And with that he walked from the room, still managing to leave you in awe.

 

With newfound confidence and inspiration, you decided that it was time to plan.


End file.
